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Chrome to Block Sneaky Web Page Popup Ads

by John Lister on November, 9 2017 at 01:11PM EST

Chrome browser users should see fewer cases of web pages unexpectedly being replaced by ads and other annoyances with some upcoming updates. The changes aim to tackle unwanted content appearing in three ways.

The first change deals with the problem of the page the user wants to visit suddenly being replaced by another page, usually advertising and often with no clear way of going back to the desired content. This is usually caused by rogue content in code on third-party ads that are meant to appear besides the content on the original web page.

Auto-Redirection Won't Work

Once Chrome gets the update, these redirects won't work unless the user actively clicks on the ad. Any attempt to automatically redirect will simply bring bring up a warning at the top of the page. (Source: theverge.com)

The second change is to tackle a particularly sneaky trick some pages use. It's the one where a user clicks on a link, but the page they expect to visit actually opens as a new tab. Meanwhile the original tab is replaced with an unexpected page, usually an ad.

Google says the Chrome update will block this trick in its tracks, again showing a warning message, but still allow the user to reach the page they expected to visit.

Hidden And Disguised Links to be Blocked

The third change is to deal with what Google labels "abusive experiences". That's where users are tricked into visiting a page unexpectedly. This covers a range of tricks including disguising links as a play button that looks like a video player, and even using transparent overlays that act as invisible clickable links.

Google hasn't said exactly how it will detect such tricks, but says that if any are detected, the site will be blocked from opening any new tab or window in Chrome. As that's a potentially serious punishment, site owners are getting a 30 day adjustment period during which they can use a Google tool to check if their pages would trigger the block. (Source: chromium.org)

What's Your Opinion?

Have you experienced any of these problems? If you don't already use Chrome, would these fixes encourage you to switch (assuming they work)? Will this make a big difference or will scammers and rogue ad sites simply find new tricks?

Comments

There are a few sites that I visit that engage in this extremely shady and annoying practice. Firefox 57 is due out this month and it's going to break a lot of the addons I use - so it may be time to finally make the jump to Chrome.

Hey Dennis; I have been using chrome for many years and i like the way it works. I welcome the new features as i'm annoyed with these PoPuP adds.
Google isn't so "goody, goody" either though. Run a Malwarebytes scan after installing or updating Chrome and you will find at least 19 PuPs ready for quarantine.

If Safari cannot implement a similar fix then it should at least allow a domain or web site to be “blocked” by the user. I am tired of having to “Clear History & Website Data” on a daily basis to prevent such popup ads!